Under the Weather of it All
by Pink Pagoda
Summary: Lilly wakes up one morning dizzy, and completely disoriented. Even though she feels sick, she continues to go about her day like always. However, when she finally breaks under the strain, someone will be there to catch her when she falls. Lilly / Oliver
1. Chapter 1

_Beep beep beep beep... _The sound faded in and out as Lilly slowly gained consciouness. Groaning, she pulled herself up from her horizontal position, but immediately regretted it. _Oh man, why is the room spinning...I got enough sleep...I think... . _In reality Lilly Truscott had not gotten a sufficient amount of sleep. At least, not enough to keep her from getting horribly dizzy.

"Now I really wish I hadn't stayed up late IM ing Oliver..." she trailed off as she slowly eased herself from her bed, desiring not to trigger another spell of vertigo. She happened to glance at her clock on the way to the bathroom, as she emmitted another groan. Not only did she feel sick: she was also going to be late.

*

_Shoot, shoot, shoot...I'm sooo late..._ Lilly thought to herself as she ran up the steps of her school and towards her locker. She got her books, and sped towards class. She was about to open to door to her first period of english class when another spell of dizziness hit her like a fast moving, freight train.

"Ohh man...ohhh...ughh.." Lilly changed her plans to head to class as she sped towards the nearest washroom. She ran inside, and quickly occupied the closest stall. Afraid that she might miss, because the room was tilting as much as a ship caught in a storm, she knelt down on the floor and waited for what was to come. Oddly enough, it never did, and the bout of dizziness passed as quickly as it had come.

Some time had passed since her episode, and she feared what the consequences would when she arrived to class. She steeled herself, and pushed open the door to her nearly finished, first class.

"Ah, Miss Lillian Truscott, nice of you to join us." Mr Corelli smiled at her with faint traces of concern laced with his usual goofy grin. "Oliver let me know you would be late, so there's no need to worry about a detention."

Confused, but not wanting to blow the cover that Oliver had apparently supplied her with, Lilly rapidly took her seat, and did the work that she had missed that morning during class. As Mr Corelli explained the assignments to her in great detail, she couldn't help but be distracted by the feeling that someone was watching her from behind.

*

The rest of the morning passed painfully slow, but after several hours of grueling work, it was lunch time, and Lilly could finally thank Oliver for covering for her that morning. They met at their usual lunch table, Miley and Oliver with trays in hand , and Lilly with but a measly apple and bottle of water.

"Thank you so much for saving my but this morning Oliver. My mom said that if I got anymore detentions, I would be grounded for a month." Lilly took a bite of her apple, remembering the event that made her deserve the first detention: cutting Joanie's hair after she had won the dare.

"You're welcome-but seriously Lilly, why were you late, anyways?" Oliver stopped eating as he said this, and looked at her questioningly.

"Yeah, I wanna know why too, because I thought we were walking to school today, but you never showed." Miley gave her the same accusing glare as Oliver was currently giving her.

"Umm I slept in...." disatractedly, she took another bite of her puny lunch, and sipped her water nervously.

"Come on Lilly...you never sleep in! Even on the weekends you're always the one that comes over and wakes me up at 7:00 am saying to 'wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey'!" Miley had stopped eating and gave Lilly a once over. "You're so pale today too!"

"And is that seriously all you're eating for lunch?" Oliver added as he noticed another ill feature of his blonde friend.

Lilly set down her water, "Honestly, I do feel a bit crappy, but I'm just tired-I assure you that I'm gonna be fine-and we have that concert to go to tonight, and there's no way I'm missing it."

"Oh yeah, and I have the perfect boots to match that shirt you told me you wanted to wear..." Having completely deterred Miley from worrying about her, Lilly was now only concerned with convincing Oliver that she was fine.

As Lilly gabbed with Miley about what the upcoming event, Oliver couldn't help but not be convinced by Lilly's lack of genuine exscuses for being late. He was attending the concert as well, and if he couldn't convince her she wasn't fine by then, he would just wait and be there for her when she was ready to fall.


	2. Chapter 2

"Really Oliver, I'm fine, so would you quite asking!" Getting annoyed by her unusually over protective friend, Lilly closed her locker and headed to the front doors of the school.

"But Lilly..." He started whining, hoping to elicit a smile from his peeved companion, "You didn't even finish that tiny little apple you had for lunch-and you asked for the bathroom pass twice this afternoon."

Resisting the strong urge to tell her friend exactly how bad she truly felt, Lilly just turned and waltzed away saying, "How many times do I have to tell you that I'm fine!!!"

"Do you want me to walk you home?" Oliver yelled, running after her as she tried to make a clean getaway.

"If you really want to-and how can you not? We live right next to eachother?" Exasperated she finally slowed to a pace he could match. As they walked, Lilly distracted Oliver with her excited feelings of where they were going that night: an awards ceremony for celebrities. Oliver rolled his eyes as he listened to Lilly's gushing about how she hoped to catch a glimpse of Olando Bloom, but secretly he payed more attention to the way she had started to slump over with clear exhaustion as she spoke.

When they got to their respective houses, they promised to meet back together in an hour before they made their way to Miley's house for the concert.

*

_Okay...why won't I just throw up already!_ Lilly cursed in her head as she pulled away from the toilet for the second time since she had said goodbye to Oliver. She had experienced extreme moments of nauseum all day, but had yet to expell the entire contents of her stomach. _At least if I got sick, I would actually be able to say 'I'm too sick to go out tonight'._ As much as she had been looking forward to her night out with Oliver and Miley, she really just wanted to curl up and go to bed. She sighed as she moved from the bathroom to her own room, while drying her face. Every time she had gotten close to getting sick, her body only got extremely warm, which made the feeling all the worse.

"I almost wish my mom were here so I could make up some sort of exscuse, so I wouldn't have to go tonight." Ms Truscott had been called away the night before for an impromtu meeting, leaving Lilly to fend for herself. Pausing as she glanced at the clock, she once again cursed, and ran to her secret stash of Lola clothes "I only have ten minutes until I have to meet Oliver!"

*

"Well...what can I say? Lola certainly doesn't look like she usually does..." Oliver continued to look his friend up and down until he received a sharp jab to his side.

"Girls can't always look perfect you know." Lilly feigned hurt, but inwardly agreed that her appearance was not up to it's usualy par.

"Okay fine-I'm sorry, but at least let me fix your wig-I can see blonde peeking out behind that bright pink!" He reached over and began to tuck her golden locks back underneath the electric pink wig. "There all better." He smiled as he continued to walk, obviously completely unaware of the shock of electricity his simple actions had caused his friend.

_Wow...that was...WAIT! All he did was fix my hair...keep it together Lilly!_ She tried to keep a straight face, but couldn't help but let out a smile at their small interaction.

*

The limo ride had been surprisingly silent, and stayed that way as they made their way into the backstage of the venue. Lilly, usually full of bubbly energy to pump up Miley before going on stage, was having trouble not passing out right before her friends' eyes.

"Okay...so...wish me luck?" Miley smiled uncertain whether she should really be going on stage when her friend obviously ailing. All of Miley's previous suspicions from earlier that day came flooding back as she took a close look at Lola's face. Beneath her wildly applied makeup, there was obvious dark lines under her eyes, as well as small sheen of sweat adorning her strained visage.

"Luck, Hannah! Knock em' dead!" Reluctantly Miley turned around and ran out onto the stage behind her. As Miley left, Lilly dropped even more of her shattering outward image.

"Lola, earth to Lola!... _Earth to Lilly!_" Oliver's voice dropped to a whisper for the last part.

Snapping out of her reverie, Lilly turned to meet the eyes of her frowning, best friend. "Oh, hi Mike. Sorry, I must have been daydreaming."

For some reason Oliver's face changed from worry to a blatant frown. "No you weren't! Lilly, you're sick! You have been all day! Just cut the crap and admit it!" Huffing from his outburst, he waited for her to reply.

"I...I don't know what you mean! And I told you before, I feel fine-great in fact!" As she spoke those words she began to feel ten times worse.

"Don't lie to me, it's written all over-" But he was cut off by Lilly shoving him out of the way as she bolted for the nearest washroom.

She quickly threw open the door, not enough to lock it behind her. Assuming the same position as she had earlier that day at school, Lilly paused as she took a deep breath. This time around, she distinctly felt bile rise in the back of her throat. She gagged, then finally threw up everything she had eaten that day. Instead of making her feel better, the violent vomiting made her convulse and shiver with every jolt of horrendous nausea that she was inflicted with. Somewhere along the line, her pink wig had been thrown off her head. After several minutes, her mind resurfaced, and she slowly became aware that gentle hands were keeping back her unravled blonde hair from falling in her face. She turned around and looked into Oliver's eyes.

"Come on, I think you'll want to wash your face." She pulled away from the toilet, and allowed her friend to help her up and take her to the nearest sink.

After throughly cleaning her mouth and face, she glowed with a blush as she looked up at Oliver. "Please don't say 'I told you so'."

*

Disclaimer:I don't own Hannah Montana.


	3. Chapter 3

Lilly lay shivering on the cold sofa. After Oliver had helped her to the sink, everything slurred together into a noxcious blur of light and sound. Not quite keeping a grasp on reality through the haze of her dilirum, Lilly had a hard time focusing on the voice trying to get her attention.

"_Lilly...Lilly..._Lilly! Hellooo? Wake up please, or else I'm really going to question whether it was a good idea not to tell Mr. Stuart to take you home right away." Oliver tried to keep his voice light, but couldn't help but worry for his fallen charge.

"Lilly's not here right now, please leave a message after the tone..._beeeep..._" She faded out as her eyes fluttered, but remained shut.

"Come on Lilly. I know you were just sick, but I thought you might need to eat, so I got you a snack-it's your favourite!" Hoping to receive some sort of reply, Oliver placed the plate of fruit on the table next to them, and turned his attention to his semi-comastose friend. He shook her shoulder gently, and eventually coaxed her enough to open her eyes.

"Okay...you win mom...I'll go to school if that's what you really want..."

"Lilly! Snap out of it, now you're really starting to freak me out!" Oliver felt a strong sense of relief as her eyes opened, and recognition finally started to fill them.

"Ohhh...What do you want Oliver?" She groaned to waking up, but her grimace almost doubled when she saw the food so close to her face. "Oh, please no...you're not going to make me..."

"Yes I am, now open up, Lilly...for the Ollie trolly!" Oliver couldn't help but smile at the last part: he knew her soft spot.

"Fine, but only if you promise not to say 'Ollie trolly' for the next week." She opened her mouth and allowed him to place small pieces of strawberry in her mouth. She felt embarassed, but was in no position to argue. "Can I stop now?"

"If you eat one more piece." She sighed but let him put one more tiny piece of fruit on her tongue.

"Let's just hope I don't regret this later."

*

Lilly managed to keep down the food Oliver had fed her for the remaining duration of the concert, but was not as lucky on the ride back to their neighbourhood.

She had been carried to the car by Mr. Stuart and was dozing on Oliver's shoulder when she felt her stomach leap up into her mouth. "S....st...STOP THE CAR!!" The urgency her voice contained was enough to make the driver pull over almost immediately. She leapt from the comfortable position she had been in, and forced her way into the chill of the night air. Oliver was right behind her, ready to reassume his previous role as hair holder. Miley stood beside her friend nervously, and quickly caught Lilly when she nearly collapsed, after she was done vomiting.

Slightly moaning, and being supported by two very concerned friends, Lilly could only utter one small request; "Does anyone have a tissue?"

*

"Lilly, get some sleep tonight-and please, feel better." Miley held her friend's hand, squeezing it one final time before both Oliver and Lilly exited the limo in front of their two houses.

Not trusting her to support herself, Oliver took Lilly right to the door of her house and waited for her to ring the doorbell. Instead, Lilly pulled a key ring from her purse and began to shakily fumble with unlocking the door. "Umm, can't we just knock?"

"N-n-no, mom's not home." She said the words simply, but inwardly shuddered at the weak sound of her voice.

"Well where is she? Is she just out late?" Oliver looked down at her, demanding a clear answer.

Pausing, Lilly took a deep breath and replied, "No, she's out of town. She hasn't been home since yesterday."

Without further questions, Oliver whipped out his cellphone at lightening speed, and dialed his mother. "Hey mom...yeah it's me, we're home...umm do you mind if Lilly stays the night at our house....yeah her mom's out of town, and she's really sick...okay, we'll be right over." Oliver carefully took the keys from Lilly's shaking hands and flipped to the right one with ease. The door opened and he took her inside. "Mom says you're staying with us until your mom gets home: She doesn't want you all alone while you're sick-and frankly, neither do I!"

He took her up to her room, and waited outside while she changed from Lola back into Lilly. She gathered several sets of clothes and nececities into a small shoulder bag, and then they made there way next door to Oliver's house.

*

After some discussion, it was decided that (much to her dismay) Lilly would stay in Oliver's bed, while he slept next to her on the floor. The Oken family did not have a guest room, but welcomed her with open arms. Upon seeing her flushed face, and quivering features, Mrs Oken just embraced Lilly and felt her forehead. "Oh dear, you're so warm. Straight to bed with you-and Oliver, don't keep her up all night talking." Right after she was released from the hug, she swooned, and fell straight back into Oliver's waiting arms.

Lilly Truscott was a very confident person, but couldn't help but marvel at how nervous she felt as Oliver carried her up the staircase. _He must be strong...he's carrying ME up two flights of stairs, and he's not even breathing hard..._ . He held her under her knees with one arm, and supported her back with his other arm. Being in such a position, and in her current state, Lilly couldn't help but snuggle her fevered forehead into his neck. She couldn't see it herself, but this made Oliver blush profusely.

"Here you go." He placed her on his bed, and neatly tucked the covers to her neck. His mom made a short appearanced, and provided him with a bucket, a damp cloth, and a sleeping bag. "Mom, how did you know that she had been throwing up?" Oliver whispered as quietly as he could."

"A mom knows...plus I got a very worried call from Mr Stuart and Miley. They were so worried when she didn't answer the phone at her house, she they called here and informed me of all her symptoms."

"Thanks mom." Oliver produced a small smile, and received one in return. Mrs Oken left, and Oliver was once again consumed with worry for his patient. He put the bucket next to the bed, and placed the damp cloth slowly on her forehead. He thought she had fallen asleep immediately, but was surprised when her mouth twitched, and she uttered a very soft "Thank you, Oliver."

*

Disclaimer: I don't own Hannah Montana.


End file.
